The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
